Demos-Nothing-To-Fear-But-Fear-Itself

2 France Figure 8

2 France Figure 8 Responses by survey respondents aged 18–34 to a statement on their expectations for the next 12 months for Europe, France, their region, and themselves and their family (‘Generally speaking, do you think things will get better or worse over the next 12 months for…?’) ‘Get better’ ‘Get worse’ ‘Get neither better nor worse’ ‘I don't know’ 60 Percentage (opinion) 40 20 0 …Europe as a whole …France in general …your region …you and your family Table including subtotals (‘get better’: get much better + get slightly better; ‘get worse’: get much worse + get slightly worse). While the French population as a whole thus seems mired in generalised pessimism, young people aged between 18 and 34 constitute an exception. This is the only age bracket where there is a majority who think that things will get better in the next 12 months for them and their family (figure 8). Those in this age group are thus broadly pessimistic about the future of the country, but the difference is −31 per cent (compared with −40 per cent). Similarly, when asked about the future of their region, the young pessimists still outweigh the optimists with a difference of 9 points, but this gap is 26 points when looking at the whole population. This more nuanced pessimism among the younger age brackets is an interesting finding, since

147 paradoxically this is the age group that might have suffered most from the effects of an underperforming job market. Figure 9 shows the responses by survey respondents to a statement on their optimism for the future. Figure 9 Responses by survey respondents when asked to what extent they agree with the statements ‘I am optimistic when I think about my own future’ and ‘Do you think young people today will have more, the same, or fewer opportunities for success than their parents did in the French society of tomorrow?’ Optimism in own future Fewer opportunities for success, young people vs parents 80 Percentage (opinion) 60 40 20 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 Source: Chanvril, ‘Baromètre de la confiance politique CEVIPOF. 22